Butler, Ruth Photographie [USA]

I grew up in Western New York and had the priveleged company of instructors who were part of the craft and art movement in the 70's. Design, color, texture, form, line, balance, and senses were topics of discussion and learning. Atlhough technique was important it was only the means of expresing ourselves in the art. I get lost and found in the art.

I moved to southern California in the mid 80's and by the late 90's was swept up by the the emerging technology which allowed the spontaneity from camera to printed work or cyberspace. I was lucky to learn from people in the industry as well as artists using keystrokes.

My move to New Mexico five years ago brought me the canvas to work on and that brings me to:
ARTIST STATEMENT

Admittedly, I like to use real life images to jolt the viewer’s eyes into believing the composite really exists somewhere. Since moving to New Mexico four years ago the big clear skies are ripe canvasses for my imagination.

And while my images may appear to be watercolors or oil paintings the viewer soon realizes that the special light from within my work is derived through my creative layering of skylight.

The photographs I use are selected from my past collection (i.e. the angel is me from a school play at 5 years old) coupled with my contemporary photos to present a jarring visual escape. The place and time are hauntingly familiar southwest skies which set the stage and a new dimension for mystic peppers, flying doors, angels, abandoned ranches and gossamer clouds to coalesce.

I photograph the New Mexican sky and blend it with, for example, a photo of a whimsical structure. (Okay, it can be a deadbeat structure, but that changes when the two are melded together). Then I alter an image semi-transparent so the viewer can look through it first and see the other behind it. I erase pieces of land and let the sky peek through and add pieces of fruit that you may think are stone. That somewhat suburban house appears surrealistic in this old west setting. Sometimes the change or magic happens almost instantly and sometimes slowly, but it is always there if I look for it.

This process helps me to relay my sense of the southwest: the color, the feel, the mystic nature and the expansiveness of the land.

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